A Hong Kong court has adjourned the case against four fugitive Hong Kong protesters who allegedly hid in safehouses for two years and a man who is suspected of helping them to April.
Fung Ching-wah, Tsang Chi-kin, Ansen Wong, Alex Wong and Yip Ho appeared at the District Court in front of Judge Stanley Chan on Tuesday.
It was the group’s first appearance at the District Court, where they could face up to seven years in prison if convicted, after their case was moved from the West Kowloon Magistrate’s Court earlier this month.
They stand accused of “doing an act or a series of acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.”
The group was said to have intended to “frustrate and hinder the jurisdiction of the court to adjudicate and conclude the criminal proceedings” against Fung, Tsang and the two Wongs, who had failed to attend court dates linked to 2019 protest-related charges.
Fung was the only defendant with legal representation in court on Tuesday. The remaining four appeared without lawyers.
The judge was told that while their legal aid applications had been approved, they were still waiting to be assigned representatives.
Chan also approved an application from Fung’s lawyer requesting more time to seek instructions from their client.
Tsang told Chan that he would like to have the case combined with another he is facing. However, the judge told Tsang that he would have to wait for his lawyer to make the application for him at the next hearing.
Tsang was 19 when he allegedly went into hiding in December 2020 after missing a court hearing. Now 21, he was accused of one count of rioting and two counts of assaulting police during a demonstration on October 1, 2019, when he was shot by an officer at close range.
Fung, Tsang, Ansen Wong, and Alex Wong were arrested last July after hiding in safehouses for close to two years. Yip was accused of helping hide the four, providing them with food and transferring them between hideouts.
The group has been remanded in custody since July last year.
The case will be heard again on April 18. No bail applications were made on Tuesday.
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